Detention
by Swift-Revived
Summary: Marinette is summoned to school early for always being absent during Akuma attacks, but when she arrives, someone else is already serving their time.


Marinette walked through the entrance to Collège Françoise Dupont, a gust of wind blew in the other direction. The sun was barely cresting over the horizon, she had never been to the school this early in the day. She took a deep breath before continuing onwards and up the stairs. She opened the door slowly, delaying her meeting with Ms. Bustier for as long as she could.

As soon as she poked her head into the room, she was taken back by the god-like body of Adrien Agreste. Her jaw fell from her skull as she scanned over every inch of her crush's amazing body. She couldn't help but let out a love-ridded sigh of pleasure, pulling her head back outside and falling against the wall. "Oh, Tikki," she whispered longingly into the air, "he looks even more perfect than usual."

"Marinette," Tikki's muffled voice spoke, "you have to meet Ms. Bustier."

"What?" Marinette's voice fluctuated with anxiety, "Me? Go in there? When Adrien looks like that? I'd be a stammering mess!"

Tikki flew out of the purse and in front of Marinette's face, looking her dead in the eyes. "Marinette, you need to accept the consequences of your actions, stop making excuses."

"Alright," Marinette sighed. She pushed open the door and stepped inside, keeping her eyes on the floor and resisting the urge to look at the magnificent beauty of Adrien.

"Marinette," Ms. Bustier's said, "thank you for joining us this early in the morning."

Ms. Bustier moved around to the front of the desk as Marinette took up her position next to Adrien. Marinette saw how close her feet were to Adrien's orange shoes and giggled quietly at the thought of the two playing footsie. Ms. Bustier placed her hands on her desk and leaned back. "Now," she began, "do you know why you're here this early in the morning?"

"Yes, ma'am," Adrien responded immediately.

"No, ma'am," Marinette said.

"Well, Marinette, as I told Adrien before you arrived, you two are here this morning because I can never seem to find you two whenever there is an akuma attack. I don't know where you go or what you do, but it isn't safe to go running off like that. When there's an attack, I'm responsible for keeping you safe, but I can't do that if you don't follow my instructions."

She paused to take a breath. "Now, I want you two to make sure this room is clean before class starts."

After she finished, Marinette and Adrien remained motionless as she made her way to the door. She stopped before the door was fully closed and stepped back inside. "I'll be back ten minutes before class begins to see how you've done."

After the click of the door echoed through the silent room, Marinette watched as Adrien's shoe, which had made it's way close to hers suddenly started to move away. "Well," Adrien spoke, "Do you want to clean the windows, or should I?"

Marinette looked up to meet Adrien's face, being caught off guard again with how the dawn sunlight flew across his face, making him look like an angel. She could feel her heart starting to skip beats as his candy green eyes looked back and forth through the cleaning supplies before looking back up at her. "So," he spoke again, "which one will it be, sweeping or cleaning?"

"You already sweep me away," she spoke her thoughts before her mouth could stop her.

"Sweeping it is," he confirmed as he slid the handle of the broom into Marinette's open hands.

Marinette blushed, turning away from Adrien and slamming her jaw back into place. "T-t-thanks."

Adrien laughed as he grabbed the cleaning rag and spray bottle. "No problem, Marinette."

She collapsed, letting the broom support her entire weight. The sound of her name leaving his mouth was like the feeling a hot drink between your hands on a cold day. When Adrien spoke, all three syllables of her feel warm and fuzzy.

"What were you doing?" Adrien asked.

Marinette body straightened her body and froze. "What?"

"During the akuma attack, where did you go?"

"Oh… I… uh… I was just fixing- I mean… going I- I mean… I was going to the bathroom. Yea, bathroom. About you wha- I mean what about you?"

"Same here, what a coincidence."

The two sat in an awkward silence, Adrien spraying and wiping down the windows while Marinette swept the floor by her feet, occasionally looking back at Adrien. Every time he would reach up to clean the top part of the window, his shirt would follow him and show off his toned stomach, forcing a squeal out of Marinette.

"How are Tom and Sabine?" Adrien grunted, reaching upwards once again.

Marinette didn't answer, her focus and eyes locked on the revealed skin of Adrien, glistening in the sunlight coming through the windows. Her mouth dropped open and her breaths became sharp and shaky. Her hands squeezed onto the broom handle tighter with every movement of Adrien's torso. "Marinette?" he repeated, turning towards the gawking girl. "Is everything alright?"

Marinette stood motionless, except for her blinking eyelids. "Um…"

Marinette tried to get a word out, any word would work. She tried to say something, but only air escaped her mouth. She watched as Adrien wiped his hands on the rag and placed it on the window sill, making his way over to her. As he got closer, less and less air entered Marinette's lungs. "Yes," she blurted out at the last moment, forcing Adrien to take a step back.

She turned her back to Adrien and gripped onto the broom handle tighter. She thought she had gotten better at talking to Adrien, but there was something about seeing his stomach mixing the sunlight that made her brain turn to mush. Adrien placed a hand on her shoulder and she could feel her body lock in place. "Marinette," he said, "I'm here if you need to talk to someone."

"T-t-thanks," she said quietly, enjoying the warmth of Adrien's hand.

"No problem, Marinette. After all, what are friends for?"

As Adrien pulled his hand away, Marinette could feel her body relaxing. She focused her mind and soul on not looking behind her and only on the dirt she was sweeping at her feet. She had always imagined what Adrien had looked like under his shirt, dreaming about one day running her hands along his abdomen as the two relaxed in their bed together. Marinette's daydream was broken up by the sound of Adrien's voice. "Marinette," he stopped sweeping and walked back to the nervous girl, "do you need some help? You know, sweeping?"

"Umm…no?" Marinette's voice was shaking and uncertain.

"It's alright if you don't know, I didn't know anything about cleaning until I went to school."

Adrien walked behind Marinette and grabbed the broom from behind her, surrounding her body with his. "Do you need me to show you?"

The back of Marinette's neck was pressed against Adrien's chest, she could feel him breathing as the air escaped his nose and flew through her hair. She made her body small, pulling him closer to her. "Alright," he began, his hands still surrounding Marinette's. She could feel his smooth skin against hers as they started to sway.

This happened once in her dreams, except slightly different. She began to play music in her head, ignoring Adrien's words. As the music played, she swayed harder back and forth, Adrien's body followed without question. As Marinette looked down, she could see her wedding dress flowing across the dance floor, pressing against Adrien's suit. She could hear their wedding song play as the crowd of friends and families watched the two of them declare their love for each other.

"Marinette," Adrien's concerned tone brought her back to reality. Her body was on the floor, her head being supported by Adrien's hand.

"You just started swaying," he continued, "and then you fainted, should I go get help?"

"N-no," Marinette blurted out. "It's ok, I was just paying- I mean not paying attention and fell over."

Marinette gave Adrien a fake laugh and a shrug before he helped her back up to her feet. "Alright," he spoke uncertainly, "but if you feel lightheaded, I can cover some of your work."

Adrien picked his rag back up and continued to clean the windows. As he reached the back of the room, Marinette heard the boy sneeze.

"Excuse me," he spoke with a surprised tone, "I didn't expect to see any feathers in here."

Adrien continued to sneeze. "Marinette," he tried to speak between sneezes, "could you help me... with these feathers, I think… there was an open window… and maybe a pigeon got in… or something."

Adrien stumbles his way to the door, sneezing as he passed Marinette and bumping into her. Something fell out of his pocket and into Marinette's field of view as he did. "Sorry Marinette, I'll be right back, I promise. I just have to visit the little boy's room until my nose can calm down."

As he left the room, Marinette bent down and picked up a green and pink bracelet. As soon as she recognized it as hers, she let out a squeal she had been holding in for what felt like hours. "Tikki," she said, "look at what it is!"

The little red kwami flew out of Marinette's purse and above her hand. "It's your lucky bracelet."

"I gave it to Adrien when he came to my house when he came over to practice for the game tournament. Wasn't that great, Tikki? I love Adrien so much. We spent so much time alone and together, why can't that be every day? What I wouldn't give to come home from work every day to see Adrien's smiling face as he handles our three kids."

"Marinette."

"I can see them all right now! One has my eyes and Adrien's hair, another has Adrien's eyes and my hair, and the third has both Adrien's and hair. Then when I come home-"

"Marinette."

"Right, right, the bracelet. I can't believe he kept it. I thought he would just throw it in a pile with all the other crazies who sent him random junk, but he kept it, he kept it! Not only that, he had it in his pocket, he carries it around with him."

"Marinette," a different voice spoke.

Marinette looked up in pure terror as she saw Adrien leaning against the doorway, with a slight grin on his face. She started to shake as she looked back down at the charm in her hands. "Hey, Adrien," her cool demeanor already splitting at its seams, "I found your bracelet.

"I thought I felt something fall out."

Adrien walked towards Marinette and she pushed out her arms until they were fully extended, hoping to jump out the window as soon as he grabbed it. Instead of her hands getting lighter, she felt them gaining weight. As she looked back, she saw Adrien grabbing her hand and staring into her eyes. "Marinette," he spoke in a soft tone.

Before Adrien could get another word out, Marinette lost control. _I'm going to have to move_ , she thought, _I'm going to move and change my name, shave my head and get a wig. I can never come back to Paris again. He knows. I'm sorry Paris, you'll have to live without Ladybug, I can't come back. HE KNOWS._

"You're one of my best friends".

 _I'll move to China, live off the grid, abandon everything I know and love._

"And when-"

 _This is it, I'll just die here. I can't live after this._

"Marinette?"

Her eyes snapped upwards, locking on the candy green perfection. "Are you alright? You've been acting a bit more different than usual."

"I-I-I'm fine, just a bit tired from waking up this early."

"Marinette, I just wanted to say that-"

"I'm sorry," Marinette interrupted, pulling away from Adrien.

"Sorry?"

Marinette walked towards the window, grabbed her own arms and made herself small. "I'm sorry for always being so weird, I just don't know how to act around you sometimes and I can never seem to do the right thing. You're so perfect and handsome and I'm so clumsy and pathetic."

She could feel water starting to roll down her face and she pulled herself more inward, trying to protect herself from the world. "Marinette," Adrien tried to speak again.

"And look at me now. This is the only time I've been able to talk to you without being a weird maniac and it's when I know you'll never talk to you again."

"Never talk to you again? Marinette."

He walked over to the girl, now pressing herself against the windowsill and letting the crisp breeze slam into her face. He took up a position beside her, letting his elbows fall onto the wood. He tried to look over at her, but her hands covered her face. All Adrien was able to see were the tears falling through the cracks and onto the pavement below.

"Marinette," he spoke, putting a hand on her shoulder, "what you said is true. I have hundreds of little things and knick-knacks in a dumpster outside my house, all from the people you called 'crazies'. But this-" he held Marinette's charm in his open hand "-is something that will never come close to those, it's so much better, want to know why?"

Marinette slid her hand, giving herself a view of the charm he held. "Because," Adrien continued, "you gave it to me. This wasn't from some weird girl a hundred miles away, this is a gift from a very close and special friend."

He placed a hand on her shoulder and felt her shaking slightly. "I'm sorry," he spoke with a sadder tone, "I never realized how much this bracelet meant to you. I'll take better care of it from now on."

He slid the bracelet over his hand and securing it on his wrist. "I should get back to cleaning the room before we get another detention, but spend as much time here as you need."

Adrien walked to the other set of windows and began to clean again. Marinette continued to stare at her hands, trying to stop her body from collapsing. _He didn't hear me. He… didn't… hear… me…_

She pulled her hands away from her eyes and let the wind blow away whatever tears remained on her face. She turned around to see the unaware Adrien wiping down the windows. She pressed a hand against her chest and felt her heart race at the speed of light. She quietly laughed to herself before returning to the broom she dropped earlier.

She looked up at Adrien, who had been watching her the past couple seconds and quickly turned away as they made eye contact. Marinette dropped the broom and walked over to Adrien, swinging her arms around him. He returned the favor and pulled her in closer, pressing his head against her.

"Thank you."


End file.
